<\/p>\n
Lisa Vanderpump rarely slows down\u2014in life or in business. So getting 30 minutes with her over Zoom felt like a rare treat, especially when the restaurateur opened her makeup bag on camera. The only downside was not getting to meet the newest member of her canine crew, a Pomeranian named Donut, who was \u201cout on a wee-wee\u201d with her husband, Ken, during our conversation\u2014but it was a loss I was willing to take in pursuit of her beauty secrets.<\/p>\n
We caught up around the launch of her first cookbook, Home at Villa Rosa: Cooking and Living the Vanderpump Way <\/em>($35). Out now, the pink-covered book doubles as decor, just as you\u2019d expect from the Bravo star known for glamorous restaurants and lavish tablescapes. Inside: gorgeous photography and years of family recipes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ahead, Vanderpump shares the beauty products she keeps close, the treatments she swears by and the little details that make a night at Villa Rosa feel special.<\/p>\n \u201cI put on makeup every day. I really do. I love makeup. I\u2019m a real girl\u2019s girl. People say I\u2019ve got this masculine energy, but I love makeup, I love flowers, I love beautiful things. Often I work in a man\u2019s world, so to speak, with corporations and everything. But I love all the beautiful things.<\/p>\n I have a very simple beauty routine. I take my makeup off with the blue Neutrogena wipes so there\u2019s not an ounce of makeup on me, and then I always put on Chanel face cream because I find it absorbs into my skin really well. I also use [Beverly Hills dermatologist] Simon Ourian\u2019s products.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love this new lip pencil I\u2019ve got from Beauty Creations. My makeup artist here, Priscilla, just gave it to me. I really like that.<\/p>\n I used to wear the Chanel [gloss], but they discontinued it. This Girlactik gloss ($19) has that slight iridescent thing in it, so it always looks shimmery. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s expensive at all, but it\u2019s just really pretty.<\/p>\n I always carry one of these little glitter compacts from Est\u00e9e Lauder. I have about 50 of them, all different. I\u2019ve collected them over 30 years. I love that on my dressing table.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do a little filler around the hairline that he does because I don\u2019t want that in my face, so to speak. I do Botox like the rest of the world\u2014not the rest of the world, but the rest of, you know\u2014which is wearing off now because I\u2019ve been away on location for two months in Austria on Vanderpump Villa<\/em>.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ll do lasers. Simon does lasers. You think, \u2018Oh, is this going to work?\u2019 And then three months later, you\u2019re looking at your skin. People always tell me I have good skin, but I think that comes from maintenance, from using firm-and-fade creams and light lasers.<\/p>\n But [cosmetic] work? No, I haven\u2019t. Andy [Cohen] was going through that yesterday and said, \u2018Check for scars.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Yeah, come on, Andy, do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes longer. It takes longer, definitely. We\u2019ve got to iron out the creases a little bit more, I suppose.<\/p>\n Having been in hospitality, I think I\u2019ve always been a best-foot-forward type of person. I don\u2019t understand it when I\u2019ve seen Housewives, for example, who can\u2019t leave the room or the house without glam. My life\u2019s not like that. I have to be best foot forward all the time.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re in the restaurant business, you\u2019re always forward-facing, so I\u2019ve learned to do my own makeup. If I\u2019m working on camera or doing special interviews, then I will have extra help or somebody looking through the camera.<\/p>\n I always wear lashes now. I didn\u2019t used to wear lashes. Once you\u2019re on the eyelash train, it\u2019s very difficult to get off.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t had a manicure since before COVID because I\u2019m away so long sometimes, and I\u2019m in the middle of nowhere. I see these people with acrylic nails. They start off with 10, and then, as the weeks go by, they\u2019re dropping like flies.<\/p>\n I use Nail Envy by OPI ($20), a base coat, a Chanel polish and a top coat. I\u2019ll touch them up every couple of days. But I do my own nails, which everybody\u2019s always surprised by.<\/p>\n [My daughter] Pandora was saying to me, \u2018Yeah, but it takes time every day.\u2019 I go, \u2018But by the time I get in the car and drive to the nail salon and sit there for an hour and then drive back, if I amortize that over a week, I win.\u2019<\/p>\n Sometimes, if I\u2019m in a rush, I\u2019ll color my own hair. I don\u2019t even have an assistant. I\u2019m not somebody who needs a lot of looking after. I do it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had so many recipes here and there. My sister-in-law\u2014my brother\u2019s wife; my brother sadly passed\u2014used to work for the royal family, so she had so many recipes she\u2019d given me. Pandora had so many recipes in mixology, things we\u2019ve done together and things we\u2019ve cooked. It was about putting it all in one place.<\/p>\n There were even more recipes, to be honest. We narrowed it down. We had to say, \u2018OK, that\u2019s got to go, that\u2019s got to go.\u2019<\/p>\n But it\u2019s just a very sexy book that should be on your counter and covered in flour and probably gravy. Thumb through it. I still have books I go back to and refer to. I like to have a recipe in front of me.<\/p>\n I just cooked my shrimp pasta live on television. I call this dish \u2018better than sex,\u2019 and they were like, \u2018Why?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Oh, wait. You\u2019ll taste it.\u2019 Everybody had a taste. They didn\u2019t say it was better than sex, but I knew they were thinking that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, my goodness. I\u2019m so lucky if I\u2019m in one place right now because I\u2019m scattered between Vegas and Arizona. But I love to cook. I\u2019ve never seen it as a chore.<\/p>\n Ken is very appreciative. That would be a note to people: If somebody\u2019s cooking for you, it\u2019s an act of love and caring. I remember my father used to say to my mother\u2014and that\u2019s in the book\u2014\u2018I\u2019ll tell you if I don\u2019t like it.\u2019 Ken\u2019s never been like that. He was always very much like, \u2018This is delicious.\u2019 And because he can\u2019t do it himself\u2014he\u2019s only got one dish!\u2014it\u2019s very encouraging.<\/p>\n There are two or three things I have as go-tos. A great chicken dinner with vegetables and roast potatoes. The way I do my roast potatoes, that is my gift to you. Once you\u2019ve done these roast potatoes like this, very specifically, you\u2019ll never do them another way. People will ask you to do them because they\u2019re really crunchy.<\/p>\n I do a lot of vegetables. Ken\u2019s pescatarian. He doesn\u2019t eat our furry friends. I don\u2019t eat much meat, really\u2014a bit here and there\u2014but he likes fish and vegetables a lot. So I\u2019ll do my shrimp pasta, which is a given and so yummy.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ll have a glass of wine. It\u2019s normally a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI always think the lighting\u2019s important. Try to remember, if you can, what somebody likes to drink. If you show up and somebody goes, \u2018Lisa, I know you love a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, so here\u2019s a nice chilled glass,\u2019 or, \u2018I know you like an Aperol spritz.\u2019 I think that\u2019s a really good thing.<\/p>\n I encourage my bar staff, if they see somebody coming in and they know what they drink, to say, \u2018Hey, I remember.\u2019 Even if they get it wrong, it\u2019s nice to think, \u2018I know you. I see you. You\u2019re here.\u2019<\/p>\n I always like music playing in the house, but I would go acoustic or without vocals because it\u2019s easier to talk over. Great lighting, an appetizer\u2014there are a lot of appetizers in this book that are super simple\u2014a drink and a smile on your face.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ve got seven dogs, so they always give a really good greeting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a little one. We do cook for our dogs. There\u2019s one, but I couldn\u2019t go into detail.<\/p>\n I\u2019m actually looking for the perfect dog food because I have my dog rescue. We\u2019ve saved over 3,000 dogs just in Los Angeles and thousands more worldwide. We have a sanctuary in China. So I\u2019m looking for the perfect dog food. We\u2019re tracking it down.<\/p>\n By the way, I prefer dogs to humans. I worship dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt depends who it is. If it\u2019s a really great friend, it feels very different to business, and we do a lot of business and entertaining at Villa Rosa.<\/p>\n Making things beautiful always makes your guests feel that you cared about them. When I set a table, if I do it beautifully, I think the guest interprets that it\u2019s for them. Like if you dress up nicely to go somewhere, the fact that you\u2019ve made an effort really resonates.<\/p>\n I think malaise is the enemy. I\u2019m not saying dress up every minute. You\u2019ll catch me in jeans and a white shirt. But I think making that extra effort matters.<\/p>\n The funniest thing with makeup: My phone won\u2019t recognize me on Face ID without makeup. I think that\u2019s really rude. I try to open my bank account, and it\u2019s like, \u2018No, I have not a clue who you are.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, for God\u2019s sake.\u2019 I put on my makeup, and then it\u2019s ping!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do love flowers, but I don\u2019t think you should show up with flowers that need to be put in a vase. You feel bad if you leave them on the side. If it\u2019s a bouquet that\u2019s tied and you can just plop them in water, or if it\u2019s in a vase already, that\u2019s good. Flowers always mean, \u2018I love you. Thank you.\u2019<\/p>\n A candle, of course. I\u2019ll often take something English to a house. Anything special. I think life should be about making moments special, and I\u2019ve always been like that. If it\u2019s a lace tablecloth, if it\u2019s a nice napkin ring\u2014when you make that effort, even a little effort goes a long way.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also been a big advocate, and my daughter is too, for collecting things along the way in your life. Trinkets. Whether you\u2019re going to put flowers in a teacup at teatime, scatter rose petals or tie the napkins a certain way, there\u2019s a lot in this book.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m not precious. I\u2019m in the restaurant business. I know how hard it is. I\u2019ve cooked for my family for years. These recipes are some of the favorites from our restaurants. I\u2019m boots on the ground. I think people know that about me. I work hard, but I do what I love, so that\u2019s why it doesn\u2019t feel so much like work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs you walk in, you\u2019re going to see a huge amount of roses. It depends if it feels Christmassy or flowery. I have a lot of flowers around, for sure, because I always imagine, as you walk in, just that overwhelming feeling of flowers. But not one scent per se.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny because we were choosing the scents for the hotel [her Las Vegas property], and they were saying, \u2018The scent of the casino has to be different to the scent of the bathroom because we don\u2019t want somebody thinking the casino smells like the bathroom.\u2019 And then the scent of the bedroom.<\/p>\n So I actually sat down and chose the scents for each place because your mind remembers it. You don\u2019t want somebody going to the bedroom thinking, \u2018This smells like the bathroom,\u2019 or the other way around. Opening a hotel was an education for me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlcohol. No apologies for it.<\/p>\n There is something somebody showed me once, and it\u2019s always stuck with me. [Demonstrates a breathing exercise.]<\/em> If you breathe in and out, it makes you relax. I do that. You\u2019ll often see me go like that, and Ken will know what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n But do I drink? Yes. Have a glass of wine, my dogs on my lap. You know that tactile feeling of having your furry people around you? Not Ken\u2014my dogs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where I relax. I\u2019m not really stressed as a person. I think you could pull on me 24\/7. But I am organized, and I am a perfectionist, which is probably easy to live with in one way and more difficult in the other because you\u2019re organized, but you still want everything perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat does your beauty routine look like right now?<\/h2>\n
What are some of the makeup favorites in your bag?<\/h2>\n
You mentioned trusting Simon Ourian with your face. What treatments do you get?<\/h2>\n
How has your approach to beauty changed as you\u2019ve gotten older?<\/h2>\n
You also do your own nails. What\u2019s your routine?<\/h2>\n
Let\u2019s talk about the book. What inspired you to put it together?<\/h2>\n
What does a normal weeknight dinner look like at Villa Rosa?<\/h2>\n
After decades in hospitality, what makes a guest feel taken care of?<\/h2>\n
Are there any recipes for the dogs in the book?<\/h2>\n
Before guests arrive, how do you get yourself into the entertaining spirit?<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s your go-to hostess gift?<\/h2>\n
Does Villa Rosa have a signature scent?<\/h2>\n
With so much going on, how do you wind down after a long day?<\/h2>\n